James Nesbitt’s Bloodlands Remains a Dark, Twisty BBC Crime Thriller Worth Discovering

For viewers who enjoy British crime dramas built around buried secrets, unresolved cases and detectives carrying plenty of personal baggage, Bloodlands has all the ingredients of an absorbing watch.

Set and filmed in Northern Ireland, the BBC thriller stars James Nesbitt as DCI Tom Brannick, a detective whose investigation into a suspicious disappearance drags him back toward a notorious cold case from the Troubles — and a mysterious figure known only as Goliath.

Created by Chris Brandon and executive produced by Line of Duty and Bodyguard creator Jed Mercurio, the drama originally premiered in 2021 before returning for a second series in 2022.

A new investigation reopens a painful past

The story begins when a vehicle connected to missing businessman Pat Keenan is recovered from Strangford Lough. What initially appears to be a kidnapping investigation quickly becomes something far more troubling when Brannick recognizes evidence potentially connected to a decades-old case.

That case involves Goliath, an unidentified killer linked to four disappearances around 1998, shortly before the Good Friday Agreement. Investigators had suspected that Goliath could have been someone inside the police.

For Brannick, reopening the investigation is intensely personal: his missing wife, Emma, was among Goliath’s suspected victims.

As fresh clues emerge, Brannick becomes increasingly determined to discover what happened all those years earlier. But pursuing the truth risks exposing secrets that some would rather leave buried — particularly given the political sensitivities surrounding Northern Ireland’s past.

Mercurio described the premise as a contemporary thriller with one foot firmly in that history, with the pursuit of justice potentially threatening the fragile peace achieved after the Troubles.

James Nesbitt leads the investigation

Nesbitt brings considerable experience to the central role following appearances in dramas including Murphy’s Law, Jekyll and The Missing.

He described Bloodlands ahead of its premiere as a cat-and-mouse thriller given additional depth by the legacy of the Troubles. Nesbitt also emphasized that beneath the mystery are stories about relationships, loss and the bond between a father and daughter.

Joining him is Charlene McKenna as DS Niamh McGovern, Brannick’s determined colleague. Lorcan Cranitch plays DCS Jackie Twomey, while Lola Petticrew appears as Brannick’s daughter, Izzy.

The wider cast includes Susan Lynch, Michael Smiley, Chris Walley and Victoria Smurfit.

The Line of Duty connection

Although Mercurio did not create or write Bloodlands, his involvement as executive producer inevitably attracted attention from fans of Line of Duty.

Radio Times awarded the opening series four stars and described it as an “unpredictable thriller” carrying many of the hallmarks associated with a Mercurio drama. The review highlighted its police corruption themes, Northern Irish setting and slow-burning mystery, while praising Nesbitt and McKenna’s performances.

The Guardian similarly awarded the first series four stars, describing it as a dense thriller that successfully incorporated black humour alongside its darker material.

The second series received a more divided critical response, however. The Guardian gave that season two stars, arguing that some of the suspense and thematic weight of the original Goliath storyline had been lost.

A crime drama rooted in Northern Ireland

One of Bloodlands‘ strongest distinguishing features is its setting.

Rather than treating Northern Ireland simply as an atmospheric backdrop, the drama connects its central mystery to the lingering consequences of the Troubles and the difficult relationship between justice, memory and peace.

Nesbitt said the series offered viewers an opportunity to see Belfast and Northern Ireland in a different context, while Brandon — himself from Northern Ireland — described the project as a story closely connected to the people and places that shaped him.

That combination gives Bloodlands a character quite different from a conventional police procedural.

Across its two seasons, the drama moves through cold cases, hidden motives, political sensitivities and increasingly complicated questions surrounding Brannick himself.

For fans of darker BBC thrillers such as Line of Duty, The Missing and other character-driven British mysteries, Bloodlands offers a compact, twist-heavy crime drama anchored by James Nesbitt and a mystery where the past is never quite as buried as everyone hoped.